The United States blackmailed the UN Security Council (SC) into changing the meaning of the Middle East resolution and including in it “virtually a license to kill” civilians in Gaza. This was stated on January 9 by Anna Evstigneeva, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN, at a plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly (GA), which is being held in connection with the US veto of Russia’s amendment to the resolution.
“The call to create conditions for a cessation of hostilities, that is, in fact, a license for Israel to kill Palestinian civilians in Gaza under the pretext that clearing the strip is supposedly the very steps to create the mentioned conditions,” the diplomat explained during her speech, text which is given on website Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the UN.
She pointed out that instead of a call for a cessation of hostilities, the text contained wording with the opposite meaning.
“The dirtiest instruments of pressure and blackmail were used, which our American colleagues slyly call effective bilateral diplomacy. <...> After several days of active arm-twisting, the United States achieved that the original plan of the project was completely distorted,” said Evstigneeva.
The Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation also added that Russia followed the “unconditional moral imperative” to save civilians in Gaza. It was unacceptable for Russia that the UN Security Council agreed to the formulation put forward by the United States. Therefore, the Russian Federation proposed an amendment that restored the original meaning of the draft document laid down by the Arab countries.
The diplomat is confident that in this way Washington “actually exposed itself,” showing that its real goal is to push for complete freedom of action for Israel to carry out the inhumane cleansing of the Gaza Strip, and not to develop a compromise text.
On December 22, the UN Security Council adopted a draft humanitarian resolution on Gaza prepared by Arab countries. It is aimed at facilitating the flow of humanitarian aid into the enclave. In turn, the Russian permanent representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya noted that Russia refused to veto the UN Security Council resolution on the Middle East conflict only because of solidarity with Arab countries.
On December 8, the United States vetoed a UAE draft resolution in the UN Security Council demanding an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. On the same day, US Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Robert Wood said that Washington did not support calls for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip because they would “sow the seeds of the next war.”
The situation in the Middle East escalated on the morning of October 7, 2023, when the Hamas movement subjected Israel to massive rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, and also invaded the border areas in the south of the country and took hostages. That same day, Israel began retaliating against targets in the Gaza Strip.
#Russian #Permanent #Mission #accused #United #States #blackmailing #Security #Council #Gaza #resolution
